The Press Complaints Commission has upheld a complaint against Pick Me Up magazine over a payment to a woman who slept with a criminal.

The PCC ruled that by paying a fee to an associate of a criminal the magazine had breached the editors' code of practice, which forbids all such payments.

The case centres on the magazine's publication of a first person account by Emma Cooke who had slept with Scott Riley on the night that murdered another woman, Jennifer North.

Mrs North's daughter, Donna Fleming, complained to the PCC that there was no purpose to the story other than financial gain for both Cooke and the magazine.

She pointed out that Cooke and Riley had a long-standing relationship and shared the same friends.

The magazine countered that the woman was not an "associate" of the criminal, but merely a passing acquaintance. It argued that by having a one-night stand with a man she later found out to be a killer, meant Cooke was also a victim of Riley, and therefore entitled to tell her story.

Clause 16 of the editors' code prohibits payments to "convicted or confessed criminals or to their associates - who may include family, friends and colleagues" for stories which "seek to exploit a particular crime".

The commission ruled that the sexual relationship between Riley and Cooke meant that the woman could reasonably be described as an "associate".

Moreover, the focus of the article was entirely on the woman's association with the murderer, which meant that the story exploited the crime.

Although Cooke had been entitled to tell her story to Pick Me Up, the payment could not be justified.

"While freedom of expression does mean that newspapers and magazines can publish individuals' stories regardless of their involvement or association with crimes, the code is very clear that payment must not be made to criminals or their associates for stories or information that exploit a particular crime, unless there is a public interest in doing so."